beer chicken

When it seems like your entire life revolves around a food blog, small things make you really excited.

Like making homemade tortillas with beer and realizing how much better they are than any other tortilla you’ve ever had.

Or getting a shout out from The Cooking Channel as if they knew just how to fuel your obsession with them.

Or realizing that because Foster Farms is willing to fly you into Napa a few days early for the National Cook-Off Finals, you get to visit the following breweries: Laguanitas, Russian River, and Bear Republic.

And then your Aunt tells you that your Grandma and Guy Fieri’s Grandma where roommates in college, which sounds like a Mad Lib, but turns out to be true.

Small wins that make me so excited, you’d think I won a Beer Cooking Oscar. This is what keeps us playing the Man Behind the Curtain on these little blogs we are so dedicated to. Bloggers are easily excitable, which maybe why we spend so much time on the other side of these computer. Sometimes our excitement isn’t fit for public consumption.

Back to these tortillas. Homemade tortillas are a completely different animal from those cardboard disks they sell in supermarkets. Soft, slightly sweet, and they only take 5 minutes to make. To use a beer analogy fit for an SAT exam:

Coors Light is to Pliny as Store Bought Tortillas are to Homemade Tortillas

I’m not kidding, that much different. If you don’t believe me, and really, why should you, I’m just the overly excited girl behind the screen, try it and report back. I really think you’ll be amazed.

For this recipe, I used Lagunaitas IPA. And like I’ve mentioned before, IPA’s give you a huge punch of beer flavor. If you want a milder beer flavor, grab a traditional Pale Ale, a Blonde or a Wheat Beer.

Add the beer and butter, stir to combine. If the dough is too dry to hold together, add additional beer or water. If it is too wet, add more Masa.

Form into balls a bit larger than golf balls.

Prepare a tortillas press by wrapping in plastic wrap or covering with parchment paper (you can place tortilla ball between two sheets of parchment and use a rolling pin). Place one ball in the center.

Why do I cook with beer? What is it about this fantastic beverage that drives me to create recipe after recipe with beer as a star ingredients? Flavor. Beautiful and complex flavors that take months, even years to perfect by brewers. Aside from that, beer is a natural meat tenderizer, making it the perfect choice for a brining liquid and explaining that Beer Can Chicken recipe you keep seeing at tailgate parties. Due in no small part to the beer in the brine, it’s flavors and tendering properties, this recipe gives you a juicy bird, crispy skin and the perfect level of beer taste. That’s why I can’t stop cooking with beer, it’s just so perfect.

For this recipe I used Alaskan Brewing Company White Ale due to the flavors of citrus, coriander, and a slight sweetness, this beer is a fantastic choice. Choose a beer with similar flavors and low hops, please no IPA’s.

In a pot over medium heat, combine the water, beer, cloves, peppercorn and salt. Cook until the salt has dissolved, and the liquid starts steaming, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool, adding a raw chicken to hot brine will start to cook it prematurely.

Rinse the raw chicken, removing anything that is in the cavity. Place in a large stock pot, bucket or dutch oven that is just taller than the top of the chicken. Pour the cooled brine over the chicken until submerged. Place in the fridge and allow to soak for 12 hours. If the chicken isn’t fully submerge, turn every 4-6 hours to re-distribute the brine.

After 12 hours, remove from brine and rinse thoroughly, pat dry. Place in a roasting rack in a roasting pan and allow to sit, uncovered in the refrigerator until the skin has dried, about 12 to 24 hours. This final step will allow the skin to become crispy during cooking, while the meat is juicy.

Preheat oven to 450.

Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the chicken, place the spent lemons inside the chicken cavity along with 1/2 an onion. Sprinkle the outside of the chicken with pepper.

Roast for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 160 degrees, or the breast meat is at 180 degrees. If the chicken starts to brown too quickly, tent with aluminum foil.

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ABOUT JACKIE

I started TheBeeroness.com as a way to marry my love of food and good craft beer. It was my offering, in a way, to the craft beer scene.

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Recipes on The Beeroness are intended for adult consumption only.
Do not serve alcohol to minors.